Since 15th Century philosophy of science and of the world around us, we have come a very substantial way. Having said this, key principles then are still are the foreground of innovation and ideologies surrounding design and science today. Leonardo Da Vinci first constructed the idea of "bio inspiration" - noting the movement and "technology" of birds flight. Which lead to the early concept of a hand-glider, and ultimately what we know today as a helicopter.
Below: Da Vinci's initial drawings around the idea of using naturally inspired design from birds he saw flying around him. Source: http://www.engineering.sfasu.edu/
Furthering my research into bio-mimicry, I have been investigating the adhesive quality that geckos hold. Professor Mark R. Cutkosky at Stanford University, engineered and developed the "Stickybot" with a collegue who designed the robrotical gecko.
The geckos feet are made up of thousands upon thousands of tiny hairs, which are effectively, merely split ends. These hairs, similar to that of the leaf like structures which appear like a rug microscopically, is what helps the gecko to move over 1 meter/second. These intermolecular forces (not glue or velcro like as previously suggested by others in the field) are self cleaning and never lose their adhesive ability.
Professor Cutkosky writes:
"Stickybot is an embodiment of our hypotheses about the requirements for mobility on vertical surfaces using dry adhesion. The main point is that we need controllable adhesion. The essential ingredients are:
- Hierarchical compliance for conforming at centimeter, millimeter and micrometer scales,
- Anisotropic dry adhesive materials and structures so that we can control adhesion by controlling shear,
- Distributed active force control that works with compliance and anisotropy to achieve stability"
